TL;DR
- Use case: They needed a solution to transform millions of rows of business activity data into emissions insights to support decision-making and goal setting.
- The challenge: Current tools were unable to handle this amount of data, resulting in complex workflows, and only allowed for retroactive yearly reports rather than proactive monitoring and reductions.
- The solution: Embedding Climatiq at the data warehouse level allowed them to transform data into emissions estimates at an earlier stage to make it manageable for later applications.
- The results: They have now implemented internal carbon reduction workshops, using reliable data from Climatiq for benchmarking and setting emissions reduction goals across teams. In addition, this allows them to track progress against the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
Challenge: Too much data, not enough power
Like many large organizations, this supplier started their carbon accounting journey manually within Excel. However, with millions of rows of business activity data to handle, it wasn’t even possible to open their spreadsheets: Excel simply wouldn’t load!
This process was problematic in multiple ways:
- Volume of data: Harmonizing such large datasets proved time-consuming and unmanageable for most software tools, pushing systems beyond their limits.
- High risk of data mismatch: Manual processes make it easy to make simple mistakes that have large ramifications for emissions estimates, such as allocating the wrong units of measurement.
- Infrequent annual reports: The scale and effort of this process meant they were only able to make reports retroactively once a year, with no way to monitor emissions in real time or respond proactively.
To try and solve this problem, they first replaced Excel with a major carbon accounting software. However, it still struggled with the volume of their data and wasn’t able to clean and structure it properly. On top of that, the dedicated platform left them with yet another data silo.
To enable timely and accurate emissions insights, the transformation of activity data needed to shift upstream, directly within the data warehouse. The solution would need to simplify their carbon calculation process while enriching business data at a foundational level. At the same time, it was important to achieve a high level of accuracy and granularity that would be suitable for benchmarking and goal setting.
Solution: Embedding Climatiq in the data warehouse to scale carbon intelligence
To meet this purpose, the Climatiq API was integrated at the data warehouse level to calculate carbon before it reaches later applications. This has allowed them to:
- Handle unlimited data: Data is now aggregated and transformed through carbon calculations within the data warehouse. Emissions estimates from Climatiq can be easily categorized and grouped for seamless integration into their ESG platform, enabling the software to process the data efficiently while teams can focus on higher-level patterns and trends.
- Deliver highly accurate emissions data: Climatiq’s huge database and reliable methodology deliver accurate and dependable carbon estimates while eliminating any potential errors from manual processes.
- Get real-time emissions insights: What was once a yearly exercise has become a continuous process with data now refreshed daily.
The product manager says they have “gone from a repeated, manual exercise, that was hard to understand, to a structured, engineered solution that stays up-to-date automatically.” Grateful that the methodology burden has been lifted thanks to Climatiq’s documentation, he adds “carbon accounting methodology documentation, for example from GLEC, is so complicated it’s impenetrable. So it’s nice to have it all laid out in Climatiq.”
Results: From chaos to clarity, and carbon reductions
With Climatiq, this organization is able to model scenarios and make informed, carbon-conscious decisions based on reliable data. “The first objective is to do carbon accounting in an accurate, scalable, transparent way that stays automatically up-to-date. Then it’s about carbon reduction," says their product manager.
They now run internal carbon reduction workshops, using Climatiq’s data to set measurable goals, validate decisions, and establish benchmarks, making sustainability part of everyday business metrics. Climatiq’s carbon estimates also help track emissions and drive reductions aligned with the organization’s Science-Based Targets.
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